Planting crops using a power drawn seed boot may entail different requirements depending upon the type of crop being planted, whether the farmer is undertaking single or multiple row planting, soil quality, and other variables. Seed boots must vary in their discharge capabilities accordingly. It would be possible to maintain one seed boot for each variety of planting. However, this increases the burden of a farmer's capital expenditures, and also complicates preparation for each successive planting where different seeding patterns must be practiced. The complication is that for each planting, a different seed boot may be required.
An example of a seed boot is shown in U.S. Pat. No. 6,745,705, incorporated herein by reference.
Ideally, seeds are spaced evenly over an entire field. However, for practical purposes, seeds are planted in rows by ground working tools. The rows are spaced to achieve the best possible utilization of the soil area. Other factors affect row spacing, such as the need to allow field trash from prior years growth to pass between ground working tools while also arranging the ground working tools in a pattern which produces a smooth field surface. This has led to development of ground working tools which plant two rows of seed or a wide band of seed to achieve good seedbed utilization with fewer number of ground working tools and greater space between these tools thus allowing good trash flow. It is also common that these tools are designed to simultaneously place a row of fertilizer beside and below the seeds, or between the rows of seeds, thereby eliminating a need for fertilizing in a second pass and placing the fertilizer more accurately than is achievable in a separate pass.
One type of planting tool is known to have a standard sweep in a leading position for forming a furrow having a level or flat seedbed on which a pair of seed rows are placed, one to each side of the seedbed. The furrow is closed by soil passing over wings extending to the sides of the sweep. The tool further includes a second furrowing element comprising a rearwards angled blade for forming a second, deeper furrow between the rows of seed from 1 inch to 2.5 inches deep. A fertilizer dispensing tube is secured to the blade and also angles rearwards with the blade to dispense fertilizer into the second furrow.
It will be appreciated that further improvements in the known prior art designs are desired.